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Monday 23 June 2014

Last Friday night in Newlyn (or Wherrytown to be precise!)

Time for more strange Cornish creatures... teenagers and crabs!! Haha.

We've started helping out a little at a youth group, and on Friday we went down to Newlyn for a BBQ on the 'beach' (more like pile of stones resembling a building site, but nevermind!)...




I'm loving the sunshine and taking my camera out everywhere at the moment, hence me posting a lot more photos than words lately.  I also know I need to write, but I keep putting it off... because my thoughts mainly consist of either "Thank you for the sun and the sea and the amazing people in my life" - which I assume other people don't want to hear ALL the time (so I'll take photos of them instead and make people think life in Cornwall is perfect!! haha!) - OR "I'm too sad about this or that situation to even put it into words". Yes life is, as usual, full of it's ups and downs and sun and rain, and I'm often swung between the two, unable to grasp the middle ground.

So, pretty photos for now it is then! :)

Friday 20 June 2014

Helena and the jelly fish

It was another hot, sunny day in Penzance

The tide was low and the sea was blue

So Katrina and Helena headed to Battery rocks for a post-work evening swim

They chatted in the sunshine and the breeze for a while

Until they heard a bit of a commotion going on.  



So Helena went to have a look...




And this is the reason for Helena's expression...



That's right folks.
A humungous JELLY FISH!
Welcome to crazy Cornwall.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Going to vs. Being CHURCH

So I didn't go the 11am church meeting on Sunday.  I didn't sing. I didn't sit at the back on a chair and fight to stay awake through the long sermon, like I often do (just being honest!).  I didn't go inside a church building.

But this weekend, I definitely 'did' church.

Hubby came back from the pub on Friday evening with two new-ish friends.  We sat in our tiny flat munching on pizza and talking about connecting with God, and chasing after him, and the struggles and the questions.  We were challenged and we are changing as a result.


On Saturday I danced and laughed and clapped in a friend's living room with her and her smiling little daughter and we celebrated friendship, and children and the fact that even the tiniest ones love to move and make music.


In the evening we sat with husbands around the fire and took photos to try to capture the beauty of faces and fire and food.  We looked up at the moon, and sparks floating silently into the night sky, and wondered at the Creator and the mystery of Him entering the world as a man.


On Sunday I travelled to the Lizard with a friend and her family - that southerly most part of the land.  We found ourselves in a tranquil campsite, a blessed space, where we sat under an apple tree with our selection of flags.  We joined young and old from near and far to worship the one that first loved us.  The clouds blew away and we held up shining banners under the blue sky, rippling in the wind, like the breath of his spirit.

Little girls joined us, running across the grass barefoot with colour trailing.  Declaring. "Just one touch from the King, changes everything". A lady suffering from two types of cancer found her agonising pain to be gone.


Hallelujah.

A man danced with the silver flag and afterward we share stories with him and his wife, living in the wigwam with their four kids.  They are on an adventure, as we all are, waiting, listening, encouraging along the way. Another connection, another jump of excitement in my belly, God is moving, his people are moving, who knows what is to come...

We are the church, and God cannot be contained.

Sunday 8 June 2014

Appreciating Penzance this week

Wednesday: Working at home all day in front of a computer makes me quite desperate to get outside by around 5pm, and with summer in the air I'm determined to make the most of living in this special part of the world.  I'm finding Penzance prom a good place to air my head, chat to God, and think about things other than work.  This time, I found myself quite fascinated by the rust on the railings, I think it's kind of beautiful.




Friday: The fun fair came to town!  I'm a pretty big fan of fun fairs, especially the smells and the lights and the BIG RIDES, even if we were only ever allowed on one ride and no candy floss, burgers or toys when we were kids! Knowing a family with three young children gave me the excuse to check out this one.  It was a little different to the fun fair on Brighton level, or how I remember them from childhood, with a lot less stalls and rides and a lot more space... but hey we are in Penzance!  I went on bumper cars for the first time in my life (when you're only allowed on one ride, you chose the biggest there is, so the bumper cars never got much attention!) with my 5-year-old friend.  And accompanied his mother on the incredible Hulk ride which was actually REALLY fun. I laughed hysterically the whole way round while Mandy screamed.  Good times :-)




Saturday: What better way to spend a Saturday night than to outside on a sofa in front of a fire and roast marshmallows?!  Thankful for friends who make things like this happen, and little people who call me "Aunty Kat". Yey.